Wondering when the Lord will speak

Job 38

On reading this chapter I was particularly struck by the very first word, 'Then' and the following two verses:

'Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me'

Job has been begging God to answer his questions, begging to have an opportunity to be able to reason with him as to why all these troubles have happened to him and it is now that the LORD finally speaks to him.

Why 'then', I wonder?

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I don't think we know how long Job had to wait to hear the LORD speak. But we are told in chapter 2 that his friends sat with him in silence for seven days after he was initially bereaved.

We also don't know how quickly it was that he became ill after losing all his family, or how long it took his friends to get to him. But we do know that the time period was long enough for Job to feel the contempt, ridicule and rejection by his servants and by the society of his 'hometown'.

We then don't know over how much time it took for his friends and Elihu to make all their speeches and how long it took Job to respond.

What we do know is that Job was brought so low in himself that he just wanted to die.

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Job believed he had always lived a moral and good life, doing everything he could for his children's forgiveness in God's sight and helping those in suffering and trouble.

But now, his children were dead, he had lost all his wealth, lost the support and comfort of his wife and friends, he hurt all over, was covered in disgusting wounds and felt near to death.

He felt misunderstood, unfairly judged, that life wasn't worth living and worse - he couldn't understand why God appeared to have no concern for him and even accused God of cruelty (chapter 30:21).

'Then' God answered him.

'Then' when Job, his friends and Elihu had said all they could. When Job had finished all his complaining and crying, 'then' when his friends and Elihu were silent.

'Then' when Job was ready to die, 'then' God spoke.

It is as if God waited until man had finished his say, until Job was at his lowest, and perhaps until they were truly ready to hear his voice.

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If God had spoken immediately when all Job's troubles had occurred and explained what was happening it wouldn't have brought out the anguish in Job's heart towards God.

Although deeply bereaved and ill if Job had straightway received God's comfort and counsel maybe he wouldn't have searched his heart for the reason this could have all come upon him. It wouldn't have stretched his faith to trust in God.

It brought Job to express his real view of himself - that he believed he hadn't done anything morally wrong to deserve this; it brought him to openly declare his faith that God was Sovereign, his Redeemer; it brought out these wonderful observations of God's creation and dealings with mankind - words that God wanted to be in the Bible for you and me to read and ponder over.

We have Job coming to God in his heart, just as he was. Righteous in his own eyes, trusting but confused and feeling bereft by God and man.

Are you waiting for the Lord to speak to you today?

Are you like Job, 'Oh that I knew where I might find him' (chapter 23:3)?

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Perhaps you are in a situation where you can't understand why God has let something happen to you, or why your life is as it is. You long for God to explain it all to you or give you guidance.

Or maybe you are like David in Psalm 28 who longs to hear the Lord's saving voice, 'be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit'.

Although David doesn't say he had received an answer or that the Lord has spoken to him, he finishes his Psalm in faith, praising the LORD, declaring that the LORD has heard his prayer and is his strength and help. He says he 'greatly rejoiceth'!

Can we do this as we wait to hear his voice?

I was praying yesterday that the Lord would show me his will in a matter.

I have been wanting to know the answer for some while. I am waiting and as I wait my longing to know becomes deeper.

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But as I sat thinking over my coffee I was reminded that these waiting times are times of spiritual growth. Times when we have to continue to learn to trust the Lord that he will answer. Times of trusting that we are walking in his will and sovereign control of our daily lives.

When his answer comes doesn't it make it the more precious? Don't we rejoice more that God has been so good and kind to speak to us?

But as we wonder when that 'then' will come, may we seek to be like little children. Jesus tells us to be childlike in our faith (Matthew 18:3-5). Trusting, as David did in the Psalm above, that as we have told God our needs and asked our questions, that he has heard us; that he will answer us, and we now watch and listen for his answers.

Let us seek to be quiet before him during our days, times when we switch off all noise or go to a place away from noise, and quietly lift our hearts to him, and listen...listen, telling him we are listening and desire to hear his voice, and patiently wait for his 'then'.